


Mathematicians Have Feelings Too

by Scientia_Fantasia



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Fluff, Hermann attempting to not be an emotional stick in the mud, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-03
Updated: 2013-09-03
Packaged: 2017-12-25 11:57:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/952798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scientia_Fantasia/pseuds/Scientia_Fantasia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Newton was oddly, frustratingly, attractive.</p><p>And sometimes when Hermann was lying awake in bed, more often trying to ignore a gnawing ache, he thought about how horrible it would be if the world came to an end and Newton Geiszler went out thinking that all Hermann ever saw in him was a thorn in his side.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mathematicians Have Feelings Too

**Author's Note:**

> wow I have no idea. I've never written these idiots before so take it for what it is I guess.

Hermann wasn’t exactly a people person. People were unpredictable. They weren’t easy to quantify (though by god, he tried), and more often than not, they were annoying.

 

Especially annoying, in certain cases.

 

But that didn’t mean he was completely incapable of holding a relationship. He’d had relationships—friendships, romantic partners—as shocking as that revelation would probably be to some.

 

So when in the middle of an argument with a certain Newton Geiszler, Hermann found that the broil of emotions and heat he felt wasn’t entirely attributed to anger, he certainly wasn’t a deer in headlights. He didn’t have to lock himself in his room for a week to attempt to come to terms with the fact that he, of all people, actually had _feelings_.

 

But that didn’t mean he really knew what to do about it.

 

Dr. Geiszler and he already had an established professional relationship—or, well, maybe it wasn’t quite professional. It…well, it wasn’t professional at all really, but it certainly wasn’t a friendship under any definition of the word.

 

Or…well…

 

Honestly, Hermann had no idea what to call it. But whatever it was, he was, perhaps, hoping for something a little bit…more.

 

And therein lay the problem.

 

Hermann couldn’t figure Newton out. Hermann had a hard enough time dealing with…’typical’ people, of which Newton was certainly not. As far as Hermann could see, Newton treated him about the same as anyone else in the vicinity. Sure, the two of them knew each other more than they knew anyone else on base (excluding Mako, to a certain extent, but neither of them would even dream of giving her the treatment they gave each other), so they could pick up old arguments and poke about each other’s work and habits, and generally only talk to each other, but that didn’t mean Newton… _liked_ him.

 

Hermann had hope that his colleague didn’t completely despise him, at least. Though he honestly wouldn’t blame the man if he did.

 

In short, Hermann was well versed in approaching a relative stranger in a romantic context. He was not versed at all in approaching a—a--…a Newton, in a…oh, hell. Hermann felt like a complete idiot, that’s what it was. He would love to say he was looking for a quick screw, he was human after all, and it had been a few long years, but if he were to be completely honest with himself (which wasn’t likely to happen), that wouldn’t quite sit right with him. He had _feelings_ for Newt, and while most of those feelings had names like “frustration” and “the point where you sit at your desk and come up with complex murder scenarios instead of actual work,” there was one small bit of him that, for whatever reason, retained a bit of fondness. Almost like a parental—well, no, no, certainly not. That was not a good train of thought to follow through.

 

Newton was oddly, frustratingly, attractive.

 

And sometimes when Hermann was lying awake in bed, more often trying to ignore a gnawing ache, he thought about how horrible it would be if the world came to an end and Newton Geiszler went out thinking that all Hermann ever saw in him was a thorn in his side.

 

But that thought was buried somewhere deep, deep inside, never to be spoken in the light of day. Or light of night, as it were. The Shatterdome never really slept.

 

* * *

 

 

“Dr. Geiszler.” No—no, why did he say that, he’d been using ‘Newton’ for—

 

“Yeah?”

 

Well, it was too late now. “Would you like to…get coffee, sometime?”

 

“Uh…now?”

 

Hermann looked up from his work to see his colleague predictably and literally elbow-deep in his current project.

 

“Well, no,” Hermann said, making an annoyed face. “We’re obviously both busy. Just, sometime.”

 

“Oh,” went Newt. “Oh, yeah, sure, man. That’d be cool.”

 

Hermann simply nodded in acknowledgement and went back to his numbers, scowling at his pounding heart.

 

* * *

 

 

Days passed.

 

Hermann felt an odd sense of relief at the fact that Newton apparently forgot about it—along with a completely reasonable sense of disappointment. Well, that gave him his answer, didn’t it? If his colleague didn’t consider his invitation important enough to remember, then it’s obviously not worth—

 

“Hey there, Hermann!”

 

He gripped his cane slightly tighter—his only show of surprise as Newton appeared out of nowhere on his way to the lab.

 

“Hello, Newton,” he said, in one of his more weary tones. It was too early in the morning for Newton Geiszler. In fact, it remained too early in the morning until approximately 12:00 noon, at which point it became too late in the evening for Newton Geiszler.

 

“Hey, yeah, I was just thinking, we’re not doing anything yet, so wouldn’t it, you know, be a good time to grab that coffee? Unless you’ve got something really important or, well, I guess everything we’re doing—“

 

“Yes,” Hermann said, cutting him off. “It is a good time.”

 

“Oh, cool. Mess hall, then?”

 

“Unfortunately.”

 

* * *

 

 

PPDC-provided coffee wasn’t exactly gourmet, but they didn’t have much choice otherwise. And the mess hall wasn’t exactly romantic—or conducing to conversation at all, since Hermann (unlike other people) preferred to speak at a normal volume when possible.

 

So, they ended up in their lab anyway. And though it went unspoken, neither of them moved to immediately dive into their work, instead sitting on their respective sides (they weren’t the best at all this) and, though Hermann was surprised Newton had the ability, simply enjoying each other’s relative company.

 

“…this coffee totally sucks,” Newton eventually said, a stranger to silences.

 

“Yes,” said Hermann, not sure what else to add. He found it much easier to speak when he was arguing.

 

“I miss this one place, they totally had the best coffee ever. It was like…I don’t know, I think it had a plant in the name, but it was cool. Oh, it was near the coast, though, so I don’t know if it’s around anymore. I should check later if I can remember the name. Their coffee was great, though. I used to take people on dates there all the time and seduce them with my intricate knowledge of the menu.”

 

“ ‘People?’ “ Hermann questioned, taking advantage of what was no doubt intended to be a short pause.

 

“Yeah?” said Newton. “People. Like…oh, wait, yeah, dudes and stuff, too. That’s not a problem right because you’d kind of be a shitty person if—“

 

“Oh, no, no,” Hermann said, frowning. “Certainly not. Not a problem at all. I mean…me, as well.”

 

Newton stared at him for a moment, and Hermann felt himself go red.

 

“What,” he said, attempting to cover his embarrassment, “Is that a _problem_?”

 

“No, dude! Of course not. It’s just weird. Like, you’ve totally dated people and probably had sex and stuff, that’s totally weird to think about. I always thought you could only get it up for like numbers and—“

 

“That is quite enough, thank you, Newton,” Hermann spoke over him, face at that point a rather brilliant shade. “I _am_ a human being, you know, not a robot.”

 

“Well, yeah, but, I mean, some humans don’t really do that stuff either. I just always kind of assumed you weren’t interested.”

 

“I am _plenty_ interested,” Hermann said. Then, realizing the possible implications of his statement, did his best imitation of calmly taking a sip of coffee, waiting to see if Newton was any good with ‘implications.’

 

“Okay, man, okay,” Newton said, hands up in defeat. “I won’t pry, I got it. Though if you have any hilarious ex stories you’re okay with me laughing at then I totally have some too, just sayin’.”

 

“I doubt I have any stories to rival yours, I really do,” Hermann grumbled. In fact, he didn’t have many stories he was even willing to tell. He really had no luck with people. Or, more accurately, no skill.

 

“Yeah, okay, whatever. So are you, like, currently attached right now?”

 

“No.”

 

“Okay, I was about to say, like, dude, you gotta give me some relationship tips ‘cause if you can get through shit like this you can get through anything, but yeah I guess not, hey, can I ask you something really stupid?”

 

“You’ve never hesitated before.”

 

“No, but like really man, don’t laugh at me for this okay, I’m just genuinely curious.”

 

“…very well,” agreed Hermann, eyebrow raised.

 

“Are you, like, is this all, you’ve never really, like, said, so, I mean, are you kind of, hitting on me right now?”

 

Hermann found, upsettingly, that he had trouble answering that. Not for a lack of an answer, of course, but for sudden lack of words.

 

“Oh, god, I fucked up, didn’t I,” Newton almost immediately said, “I’m sorry man, I can just never really tell unless people are being really obvious about it so I just wanted to get it out of the way and fuck, this is awkward now—“

 

“No—“ was the first word out of Hermann’s mouth. Then, “Newt. Er, yes. I was. I am.”

 

Newton stared at him for a moment.

 

“Oh,” he said.

 

“Yes,” said Hermann.

 

“That’s…I mean, that’s totally not weird, like really, I was actually this huge fan of your work before I met you, I mean I totally still am just I was before too, so if you weren’t so scary I would have totally asked you out on a date earlier even if just to pick your brain, but then you turned out to be scary and kind of awkward so I didn’t know if I wanted to put you in that position, you know. And it was great enough just getting to yell at you, so yeah. Wait. No, I was totally going somewhere with this. Uh, you’re still scary and awkward but also totally cute and still way smart obviously so I’m up for this. Maybe. Or, I mean, you’d have to tell me what this is before I say if I am up for it.”

 

Hermann took a moment to parse through that mass of information before saying, at length, “I’m not really sure what ‘this’ is.”

 

“Well, you totally asked me on a coffee date and we’re now on it so I guess we’re dating now if that’s cool with you?”

 

“Yes,” said Hermann. “That’s…’cool.’ “

 

“But we’re still going to yell at each other and be annoying.”

 

“Obviously.”

 

“And I’m totally going to come up with dumb pet names and call you them in front of everyone and leave cute cards everywhere.”

 

“I can’t say I wasn’t expecting that.”

 

“…you’re totally cool with all of this?”

 

“I’ve had time to think this over, and I’ve decided it would be bearable.”

 

“Dude,” went Newt. “That’s like, the least romantic way I’ve ever been asked out ever.”

 

“Were you expecting flowers?”

 

“Yeah, okay, you have a point.”

 

Newt grinned for a moment, and Hermann attempted to control his rising blush. Then, suddenly, Newt’s expression fell.

 

“Oh, uh, I guess I might as well bring this up now. Uh. You know how I said some people, like…don’t do this sort of stuff, I guess?”

 

Hermann frowned, completely lost. It seemed to him that Newt was fine with “this sort of thing,” from what he’d observed so far. Of course, Hermann was more than used to being confused by Newt’s speech patterns at that point.

 

“Yes?” he prompted, hoping the next statement would be a little more clarifying.

 

“Yeah. Well, uh, I’ve totally tried sex a few times, or kind of a lot ‘cause I thought something was wrong with me or something but that’s uh, not really my thing? I don’t really…I don’t know. So if you were…yeah…”

 

“I see,” said Hermann, and he did. “That’s…perfectly fine.” And it was.

 

Though so much for using sex as an excuse, he supposed. He was going to have to own up to the fact that he actually did have mushy feelings inside.

 

“Woah,” said Newt. “Really?”

 

“Yes. Really.”

 

Newt’s grin returned.

 

“So I totally have kissing rights now, right?”

 

“Um,” went Hermann, attempting to hold back a smile. “Yes. Though preferably only in private.”

 

“Dude, I’ll take it,” Newton said. Then, after deliberating for a moment, he got up and walked over to Hermann, standing in front of him.

 

“…yes?” went Hermann.

 

So Newt leaned down and gave what was probably the least romantic kiss in Hermann’s life, and that was saying something. It was sloppy and Newt didn’t exactly have a penchant for shaving, so, a little scratchy—but it was Newt. Hermann, in all honesty, was happy with that.

 

“…you are a terrible kisser.”

 

But, after all, he did have a reputation to uphold.


End file.
